I Had Planned

"I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord. . . and I made preparations for building." - 1 Chronicles 28:1-10

King David had great plans, but God had other plans. The one thing he wanted most—building the Temple—he had to leave for his son Solomon.

David's story is a good one for this year's final days. What plans did you have for 2017? What do you need to let go of?

As the year draws to a close, a prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, written shortly before his assassination in 1980, offers this insight:

"It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

"We plant the seeds that one day will grow," Romero continued. "We lay foundations that will need further development.

"We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning . . . an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

"We may never see the end results," Romero concluded, "but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen."

Prayer

Help us step back and take the long view, O God. Thank you for the seeds you've helped us plant this year, the foundations you've enabled us to lay. Give us the wisdom to let go of other things. Like King David and Archbishop Romero, remind us that we are called to be workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. Amen.